A few hundred people wake up in an auditorium with no memory of their past, scared and confused, struggling to remember who they are and how they got here. A voice draws their attention to the person standing on the podium, impeccably dressed, an air of calm confidence about him that suggests he has the answers to all their questions. As he starts explaining the situation, they slowly begin to realize they are in a futuristic realm called Enigma, where dead humans are reborn and brought to trials for the crimes they committed in their human-lives…

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Product Description

A few hundred people wake up in an auditorium with no memory of their past, scared and confused, struggling to remember who they are and how they got here. A voice draws their attention to the person standing on the podium, impeccably dressed, an air of calm confidence about him that suggests he has the answers to all their questions. As he starts explaining the situation, they slowly begin to realize they are in a futuristic realm called Enigma, where dead humans are reborn and brought to trials for the crimes they committed in their human-lives…

About the Author

Lokesh Sharma grew up reading books and watching movies-a little too much for his parents' taste. He spent his childhood in a small town about 150 Kms from New Delhi. Having finished his studies, he moved to The Heart of India in 2010, where he worked for a reputed American-based Bank for about three years, until he came up with the idea for his debut novel and decided to put it into words. Aside from lots of reading and a little bit of writing, he likes travelling, shopping, and listening to music. Anubhav Sharma is an entrepreneur in the IT Industry. He lives in New Delhi, India. Halfway is his debut novel. He is a sci-fi movie fanatic (2001: A Space Odyssey being his most favorite) who also loves playing Call of Duty. You can write to them at: aspirationfordeliverance@gmail.com

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Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon.com

4.0 out of 5 starsI had so much fun reading this and I cannot wait for the second book.

25 March 2017 - Published on Amazon.com

Now this is my kind of fantasy! I was hooked right from page one. Now that I have finished reading, I'm wicked antsy for book two!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

Halfway is set in a futuristic place called Enigma, a halfway point between Earth and Hell or Elysium. The people, now called Myrits in this realm, have been reborn after their death. They awaken in an amphitheater with no memory of who they are. A man standing at a podium informs them that they are indeed in the afterlife and now must face trials for the crimes that they had committed in their human lives. If they are proven compatible and deemed worthy for Elysium, they will be granted access to move on.

The Myrits are confused. Some of them question the speaker. Before things can get out of hand, the speaker tells them that in order to get their human memories back, they must put on a bracelet that sits on a table in front of them. For some, the memories come rushing back as soon as the bracelet is on, but for others, it takes more time. The speaker warns them that if they take the bracelet off, they will lose all of their memories and could potentially lose them forever because they will not be able to remember to put the bracelet back on.

From there, we dive deeper into the story.

My thoughts:

In this situation, I really loved that we were just dropped into the story! This is such a great example of a book that starts in the middle of the action and then backs up to explain the situation in a way that doesn't rely on a ton of information dumping.

So needless to say, I was hooked right from page one. I really enjoyed the quick prologue, though it was a bit confusing because it was right in the middle of the action. However, I felt that it really set the tone of the book perfectly. I was only confused for a short while because right in the first chapter, we got the important information that helped us understand the world.

The storyline flowed well and it was all so wonderfully paced. I really enjoyed that there were chapters sprinkled throughout the book that jumped back to the main characters human lives in order to fill in their backstories.

I really enjoyed all of the characters! Each of them were just so interesting to me. I loved that we met the Myrits when they were very vulnerable and confused, but then got to learn more and more about them each each time we jumped back to see them as humans. I absolutely loved discovering how the characters we focused on were all linked in their human lives as well. I cannot wait to see how things turn out for all of them!

There was a bit of violence included and to me it was wonderfully done! It really made me shudder, but I didn't feel like it was overdone. It was very refreshing!

Beware, the negatives:

The writing was a bit repetitive (my personal reading irk). For example, we learned about going before the Department of Justice through one character, then learned about it again through another character. We also hear the bit about how some Myrits have a hard time using their bracelets and why that is a couple of times. Also when we see a couple of characters use the Televator, we get the same description twice. In each situation, just the first mention would have been enough in my opinion.

This book could also use a tune up editing wise, but only in regards to simple things like capitalization and slight rewording.

My final thoughts:I would definitely recommend this book! I had so much fun reading this and I cannot wait for the second book.

This is a fast paced book that did keep me reading. I believe it really only took me a few hours of reading to finish it off, and i'm not a fast reader. I did have some issues here and there. I didn't really connect with any of the characters however I was interested in reading about them. They have interesting back stories, explaining how and why they are there, and each do have depth. Sometimes they were jerks but I generally found when they were that that ended up being mentioned in some way, and I could usually understand why even when I could not agree with them. And if you always agreed with every character in every book wouldn't that be boring?

I didn't find the writing to be the best but it was certainly understandable and not the worst either. I sometimes felt like it was talking down to the reader by repeating stuff in brackets that we already knew and sometimes being repetitive with information.

There were definitely some twists and turns that had me flipping, well scrolling, through the pages. At the end you also don't get everything answered, and it does say it's book one and I am looking forward to book two and hopefully getting some answers.

You follow 2 main characters, Aparna and Dev, as they figure out how to adjust to Enigma, each with their own struggles in doing so. Dev struggling against being unjustly accused and Aparna in trying to figure out why she's even there. Also...a war is brewing. I don't want to spoil anything so I don't want to say too much!

It did make me think in some areas and I enjoyed the world of Enigma. Mostly it's a fun fast paced sci-fi book with a unique concept that I would recommend to anyone wanting an interesting sci-fi story, including those not big into sci-fi or for a quick read. Looking forward to book two!

I received this from BookGobbler.This is a science fiction story. This story takes place is a different realm called Enigma. Enigma is where you go when you have died on Earth. Once on Enigma you are get a bracelet to help you remember your time on Earth. You will go in front of 4 "people" virtually who will decide whether you go to hell. Whether you do some sort of sentence by working for the government of Enigma for an slotted time. If you've done nothing, maybe you could go to Salvation.The story starts with a very angry Abraham. He has plead not guilty of 2 murders that he claims he was framed. Enigma investigators found no proof of his innocence, so he was sentenced to Hell. Abraham's part was very short, but I think he might play a bigger part in book 2.Next we meet Dev who has plead not guilty to the murder of himself. Since Dev's handler was best friends with grandpa Vasudev, he may get a better chance.We next meet Aparna, she gets a big part in this story. She's only been in Enigma few days, but has a whole chapter. Maybe her tie to the main characters will become clearer in book 2.We get a small intro to Phoenix in Hell. There is a war brewing between Hell and Enigma.This author has amazing world building skills. I felt I could visualize Enigma while I was reading. The secondary characters, even though they play a small part, they feel needed. I could feel the outrage of Abraham from injustice, who wouldn't immediately like Dev, the shy nerdy guy? The heartbroken Aparna, I'm not sure how I feel about her.The book is unique and interesting. The plot is easy to follow. It's well written and I enjoyed very much.My 1 complaint with 2 parts: A, it finished with a cliffhanger - B, I don't think book 2 is out yet.